Resources

All of our resources are available from this page. You can also visit the specific pages for individual topics to get focused information on those areas.

Conservation

Conservation encompasses many areas - soil, water, and crop considerations all play a part. We offer a variety of practical resources to help you find the answers to your questions.

"How resilient are our lands here in the Midwest? What is our ability to retain productivity if we have another long drought or continual flooding? Will people still be farming in Iowa 1,500 years from now? Or even 200 years from now? The decisions we make today about our natural resources will affect agricultural production 50 years from now." --from the video "The Work of Our Hands"

Conservation Resources

Cover Crops

Cover crops are a great way to improve soil health. Many Iowa farmers are adding cover crops to their crop rotations so soil stays covered when the fields are not growing other crops. Cover crops also improve soil organic matter and slow water runoff.

Farmers have many questions about incorporating cover crops. Most asked questions include: what kinds of plants can be used, when and how to seed and when and how to terminate. With field days and workshops, Iowa Learning Farms strives to help farmers, and other interested people, find the answers to these questions and more.

Cover Crop Resources

Edge-of-Field

Edge-of-field practices play a crucial role in meeting the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy goals of improving water quality through reducing nitrogen and phosphorus in Iowa's water bodies. Edge-of-field practices involve drainage water management, bioreactors, buffers, saturated buffers, denitrifying wetlands, terraces and sediment control.

Edge-of-Field Resources

Relay Intercropping

Relay intercropping is a multi-year, multi-species cropping system that allows for 3 harvestable crops (small grain, soybean, corn) in 2 years.

View recent webinars, blogs and publications from ongoing research farm and on-farm demonstrations.

Relay Intercropping

Field Day Toolkit

These toolkits are the product of Iowa Learning Farms’ many years of planning and hosting field day events across the state of Iowa, as well as our newer Conservation On Tap gatherings. While ILF utilizes many different outreach approaches, the importance of farmer-to-farmer interactions cannot be overstated. Field days do matter!

Field Day Toolkit

Conservation On Tap Toolkit

Webinar Toolkit

Iowa Learning Farms (ILF) has successfully produced its Conservation Webinar Series since 2011, offering opportunities for online audiences to learn about the latest research and implementation efforts of conservation-related practices. To aid other organizations in producing webinars, ILF has created this toolkit which includes information on planning, promoting, designing, hosting, archiving, and evaluating a webinar, based on experience gained from producing and archiving hundreds of webinars.

Webinar Toolkit

Recent Resources

Posts in Webinars

July 15, 2026: On-Farm Energy Opportunities: Distributed Wind

July 15, 2026: On-Farm Energy Opportunities: Distributed Wind

With Kathy Evenson-McDermott and Sophie Farr

Webinars, ConservationAlena WhitakerJuly 15, 2026wind energy, turbine, distributed wind, renewable energy

July 8, 2026: Harnessing Local Woodland Resources to Enhance Bioreactor Microbiome for Water Quality Improvement

July 8, 2026: Harnessing Local Woodland Resources to Enhance Bioreactor Microbiome for Water Quality Improvement

With Clarisse Siababa

Webinars, Conservation, Water Conservation, Edge of FieldAlena WhitakerJuly 8, 2026bioreactor, woodchips, nitrate, woodland, trees

July 1, 2026: Removing Dissolved Phosphorus and Nitrate with Phosphorus Removal Structures Using Steel Turnings in a Bottom-Up Flow Configuration

July 1, 2026: Removing Dissolved Phosphorus and Nitrate with Phosphorus Removal Structures Using Steel Turnings in a Bottom-Up Flow Configuration

With Chad Penn

Webinars, Conservation, Water ConservationAnn StaudtJuly 2, 2026nitrate, pollution, agricultural, phosphorus, dissolved, water quality

June 24, 2026: Enhancing Nutrient Pollution Reduction Strategies Through Standardized Tracking of Agricultural and Urban Nutrient Fluxes

June 24, 2026: Enhancing Nutrient Pollution Reduction Strategies Through Standardized Tracking of Agricultural and Urban Nutrient Fluxes

With Robert D. Sabo

Webinars, Conservation, Water ConservationAlena WhitakerJune 25, 2026nutrient tracking, nitrate, urban, pollution, agricultural

June 17, 2026: Top 10 Ways That Cover Crops Impact Soil Health

June 17, 2026: Top 10 Ways That Cover Crops Impact Soil Health

With Rob Myers

Webinars, Conservation, Cover Crops, Soil ConservationAlena WhitakerJune 17, 2026cover crops, beyond the basics, soil health, grazing, earthworms

June 10, 2026: Overview of Agrivoltaics - The Integration of Solar and Agricultural Production

June 10, 2026: Overview of Agrivoltaics - The Integration of Solar and Agricultural Production

With Michael Killewald

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation CropsAlena WhitakerJune 10, 2026solar energy, agrivoltaics

June 3, 2026: FEWscapes Scenarios: Aspirational Pathways for Food, Energy, Water, and Ecosystem Security in the Upper Mississippi River Basin to the Year 2050

June 3, 2026: FEWscapes Scenarios: Aspirational Pathways for Food, Energy, Water, and Ecosystem Security in the Upper Mississippi River Basin to the Year 2050

With Eric Booth and Kelsie Ferin

Webinars, Conservation, Water ConservationAlena WhitakerJune 3, 2026water quality, Mississippi River

May 27, 2026: PFAS and Agriculture: Research by the Food Resources Lifecycle Integrated Science Team

May 27, 2026: PFAS and Agriculture: Research by the Food Resources Lifecycle Integrated Science Team

With Dana Kolpin

Webinars, Conservation, Water Conservation, Cover CropsAlena WhitakerMay 27, 2026

May 20, 2026: Using Corncobs to Improve Nitrate Removal in Bioreactors

May 20, 2026: Using Corncobs to Improve Nitrate Removal in Bioreactors

With Taylor Vroman

Webinars, Conservation, Water Conservation, Cover CropsAlena WhitakerMay 20, 2026

May 13, 2026: Soil Nitrogen Fate, Availability, and Utility: Are All Cover Crop Species Created Equal?

May 13, 2026: Soil Nitrogen Fate, Availability, and Utility: Are All Cover Crop Species Created Equal?

With Shalamar Armstrong

Webinars, Conservation, Water Conservation, Cover CropsAlena WhitakerMay 13, 2026

May 6, 2026: Saturated Buffers: Proven Practice with New Surprises

May 6, 2026: Saturated Buffers: Proven Practice with New Surprises

With Ehsan Ghane

Webinars, Conservation, Water Conservation, Edge of FieldAlena WhitakerMay 6, 2026

April 29, 2026: Perennial Small Grains: Kernza as a Model for Crop Development and Ecosystem Service Improvement

April 29, 2026: Perennial Small Grains: Kernza as a Model for Crop Development and Ecosystem Service Improvement

With Jessica Gutknecht

Webinars, Conservation, Soil Conservation, Water Conservation, Conservation CropsAlena WhitakerApril 30, 2026